One more week ’til Hannukah, shoppers!

Okay, apologies all. Not that I imagine you all sitting at your desks with bated breath, but still, I intend to write more frequently than I have been. (But hey, who noticed the pictures of me which now appear on the blog? Pretty sexy, no?) Anyhoo, the reason there’s been so much time between posts is I was doing some real writing.

I was mad-dash slapping together a play to submit to the Toronto Fringe’s New Play Contest. I imagine it’s quite the long shot, and I’m kicking myself for a typo I noticed sadly an hour or so too late, but I feel good for having done it, and fingers crossed. The cast here was kind enough to indulge me in a reading, and while it’s not where it has to be (definitely to mount, probably for the contest), it seems to have some potential. I’ll keep you posted.

Things of note that have happened since last I posted:

  • Our producer, Nate DuFort, left us: It was sad. But, good producer that he is, he left us confident in where we were and what we were doing, so Godspeed to him, hope terra firma is treating him well.
  • I experienced the very surreal goodbye song that the crew sings to the crowd at the end of the last Stardust theatre show: Just because a group of people happens to be from many different nations doesn’t mean singing “We are The World” won’t be horribly ironic. (That’s just one verse, mind you. There are more. I fully intend to commit them to memory, and share them with you in print, and upon my return, in constant spontaneous outbursts.)
  • I saw Cirque Bijou: That’s the Cirque-de-Soleilesque show onboard. The spoken word parts are deliciously campy. (We think there’s an improv game in the pattern we’ve discovered. It’s essentially a mad-lib that follows the pattern: mythical creature, precious stone, phrase that ends rhyming with “oo” / action sentence, “at Cirque Bijou.”, e.g. “The dwarf with the ruby, his words ring true. / He pays the fee at Cirque Bijou.”) And the impressive parts are, well, impressive. It will bear repeat watching. (Especially as I make friends with some of the JARs, the dance company. It’s gotten to the point where a few of them even come over to engage me! For someone who hasn’t made friends in a decade with anyone who I haven’t performed with or who isn’t dating a friend, this is an exciting development!)
  • I’ve done a bunch of shows: They’re going fine, thanks for asking. No train wrecks, and our last show was our best show, so that’s something. (I hate trying to describe improv, because it’s never the same, but Ashley and I did a Sounds Like A Song, where I was the carpenter and she was the carpenter’s long-suffering girlfriend. She sang a song about her biological clock, and then I sang a song about how I only wanted to have a child made of wood. Both songs had innuendo. It worked.) And the crowds certainly seem to be enjoying themselves, and we’re discovering things, so good on us.
  • I’ve been to Miami twice: The first time, I discovered the Miami Library, which was having a big book sale. I bought eight books for two dollars. I can’t help myself. (I also checked to see if they had Brave New Play Rites to lend, which is another thing I can’t help but do. For the record, they didn’t, but the New York Public Library does have it, so there.) Then I called home. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, the politics junkie in me was very bitter at missing all the excitement. That Stephen Harper still has a job and Sam Mitchell doesn’t makes me sad.
  • I finished American Gods. Fairly impressive tying together of loose threads at the end, but still, not recommended. That said, I think at some point, I’ll want to check out some more Neil Gaiman. I have started reading Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. (One of my eight new books.) The idea is to switch back and forth between fiction and nonfiction for awhile. Plus, given the demands of my current vocation, I’m feeling that my non-corporate side will need some private nurturing. So far, I’m liking it, though I can see myself around page 200 yelling “Alright, we get it already! You used to get stoned and act all crazy! Can’t you talk about anything else?!?”
  • I moved: I’m in a big crew solo room now. It’s nice, but moving’s a pain, and I imagine it’ll be that much more of a pain moving back to the small room. Ah well, nature of the beast. On the plus side, I don’t have to wear pants nearly as often!
  • I snorkeled in Tortola: It was pretty awesome. Between my not having contact lenses as a child and never really having had much opportunity to be in natural water that isn’t toxic, I’ve never really gotten the whole snorkeling thing. But I will definitely be doing it again. Oh, yes. The fish haven’t seen the last of me, and I certainly haven’t seen the last of them.
  • I wrote this blog entry: Oooh! Meta!

Oh, and I think I might be on a new Bad Dog Harold poster, so that’s a warm fuzzy.

Cheers, don’t be strangers!

2 Responses to “One more week ’til Hannukah, shoppers!”

  1. Uncle Bobo says:

    Shoppers! He really means “Hanukkah”. (Or perhaps he is actually cleverly referring to some other holiday or event.)

  2. Dan Hershfield says:

    I was just trying to keep my site from getting Jewish spam (which, amazingly, is kosher)!

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